Waitlists for class sign ups

Site URL: https://atlschoolofphoto.com/

Hello,
I apologize for the long question, but requires some explanation about how our business is run and the problems we've been facing. We've recently run into some issues and are trying to find creative ways to correct them.
I run a photography school, and a part of our website that our students have found helpful is waitlists.
Originally, for each class(Product) I had inserted a Form Block at in the "Additional Info" that would connect to a Google Sheet. This has caused us many issues over the years, and I receive at least one "Unsaved block submission" email a day, sometimes as many as 10. My staff and I would have to manually enter the name and email address to the Google Sheet.
Then, I was excited to find that Squarespace added Waitlists. We however ran into a few issues there. The waitlists could not be turned on if there was still inventory, so students who may want alerts to the upcoming classes would still have to submit their waitlist notification request through our previous method with the form block. At this point, we have waitlists through Squarespace and through Google Drive.
The main issue I ran into recently was that the waitlists were for specific SKUs, not the product as a whole. So, our students were signing up for waitlists for specific days and times of a class. When I would go into the product to delete the SKU (because the class had started or been completed), this would delete all the waitlists sign ups as well. We came to the conclusion that the Squarespace waitlists may not be the best solution for us.
So, to consolidate everything, I started to build Mailing Lists as waitlists. Our students could easily sign up for the mailing list for each class and we could notify them once the class returned.
However, today, upon building those waitlists, I ran into the limit of 20 mailing lists.
 

I'm looking for creative solutions and any advice anyone might have, thank you in advance!

Hi

Please don't apologise for providing a clear logical explanation of the issues, regardless of the length of your post 🙂. The more you tell us, the easier it is to help you. 

I now have a good understanding of the challenges you face managing bookings and waitlists, but have you spoken to any of your customers about the booking experience from their point of view? I'm keen to hear more about their journeys.

On many websites, browsing and booking classes can feel like a long and frustrating process for potential customers. For example, they may be looking for classes on a specific topic, but they may equally be looking classes that match their availability (eg Tuesdays) or their area of town. Before looking for a solution to your waitlist management, it may help to try to understand the emotional forces that are shaping your customer's decisions and leading them to buy a particular class - or to abandon their purchase.

Once you understand some of their pain points, you should be able to reduce confusion and hesitation during the booking process and help them to pre-order or add themselves to the appropriate waitlist. This usually improves backend processes too.

-Paul

Hi Paul -

Our students have often said that they enjoy our website and ease of use. If you visit the link at the top, I think you'll find that we give many options for our students to easily register for many classes, workshops and private sessions.

They usually abandon a purchase because of timing or if the class is full. This is why waitlists are key to our operations. On some of them, they can request a time that works best, a location they prefer, etc.

And I'm sure you didn't intend for it to come off this way, but your response does read was condescending and dismissive. I am asking for a particular solution to waitlists because I have an understanding of my student's "booking journey". Please trust that with all the information I've provided that I am looking for an answer to my stated question because I have full comprehension of other factors at my business.

On 3/1/2020 at 7:47 AM, paul2009 said:

Hi

Please don't apologise for providing a clear logical explanation of the issues, regardless of the length of your post 🙂. The more you tell us, the easier it is to help you. 

I now have a good understanding of the challenges you face managing bookings and waitlists, but have you spoken to any of your customers about the booking experience from their point of view? I'm keen to hear more about their journeys.

On many websites, browsing and booking classes can feel like a long and frustrating process for potential customers. For example, they may be looking for classes on a specific topic, but they may equally be looking classes that match their availability (eg Tuesdays) or their area of town. Before looking for a solution to your waitlist management, it may help to try to understand the emotional forces that are shaping your customer's decisions and leading them to buy a particular class - or to abandon their purchase.

Once you understand some of their pain points, you should be able to reduce confusion and hesitation during the booking process and help them to pre-order or add themselves to the appropriate waitlist. This usually improves backend processes too.

-Paul